Rookie Ricky Stenhouse – aka Danica’s Squeeze – shocked everyone with his first career Sprint Cup pole at 189.688 mph, a time of 29.227 seconds. He went late in the qualifying session, when the 1.540-mile track south of Atlanta was considerably cooler than when most of the other drivers went. Moments before Stenhouse made his run, RFR teammate Carl Edwards knocked Denny Hamlin from the pole. Juan Pablo Montoya then went to second, but Stenhouse knocked everyone down a notch.

In the final accounting, it was Stenhouse and Edwards in Fords, Montoya in a Chevy, Hamlin in a Toyota and Jeff Gordon in a Chevy. Rounding out the top 10 for the 325-lap, 500-mile race were Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. in Toyotas, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a Chevy, Kyle Busch in a Toyota and Jimmie Johnson in a Chevy. It was Stenhouse’s first pole in 30 Cup races, one of them with the Wood Brothers, 29 with Roush-Fenway.

Just before he ran, Stenhouse watched Edwards, Montoya and others run the high line. “[Team owner] Jack Roush came down and asked what line I was going to run,” Stenhouse said. “I told him I’d run the line the pole-sitter [at that time] had run. He said he didn’t want that, he wanted me on the bottom. I was ¾ of the way to the [green flag] before I decided to do that. It stuck really good in [turns] one and two and I knew it would be a good lap if I could just maintain in [turns] three and four.

“I was so confused whether to run the bottom or top, but I stuck with our plan to run the bottom that Jack gave me. We’re getting better and better. I felt our last run [in practice] was really good and I thought we had a shot at good, solid top 10. Going out late definitely increases your chances.”

Edwards praised his young teammate for sticking with his plan. “He did a great job not changing his line when everyone else was running the top,” he said. “It shocked me that he ran that fast on the bottom. When he started down there I figured he was done, that he wouldn’t make it stick. I mean, everybody was running the top and he goes out there and make it work on the bottom.

“It’s not often that Jack comes down and tells you how to drive the race car. He must have seen something in the way Ricky was running in practice to make him say that. That, and the fact that he signs Ricky’s checks. If he’d told me to run the bottom, I’d have run the bottom, too.”

J.J. Yeley and Mark Martin were briefly on the pole until Kyle Busch blew them all away. (Yeley ended up 42nd and Martin slipped back to 27th.) Busch stayed on pole until Hamlin dislodged him, starting Busch on his way to ninth. Hamlin stayed on the pole until Edwards beat him late, only to have Stenhouse beat him from 39th (of 43) in the qualifying line.

Many of the sport’s biggest names will start deep in the field for the Sunday night race. Kurt Busch, still hoping for a Chase spot, will start 32nd. Kevin Harvick qualified 30th, Jeff Burton 28th, Biffle (also on the Chas bubble) 24th, defending series champion Brad Keselowski (also on the bubble) 23rd, Marcos Ambrose 20th, Kasey Kahne (yes, also on the Chase bubble) 18th and Ryan Newman 17th (also hoping for a Chase spot).

Stenhouse’s not going to make the Chase, but that minor detail was of no great concern to him or his team Friday night near Atlanta.